The English of the Comic Cartoons

Abstract

'THEN we Americans are through V with the English language it will look as if it had been run over by a musical comedy,' was once the prediction of Mr. Dooley. The chorus of such a speech-transforming troupe must certainly be made up of the professional humorists, and the tap dancers are the 'funsters' of the daily newspaper comic strips and the colored comic Sunday supplements. To these artists the language is simply a tool of their trade. If it does not fit their needs, they alter it until it brings about the desired effect. They are no respecters of linguistic tradition. They almost completely discard the standard speech for the more colorful, salty language of the common people. Above all they are mighty coiners of words. In this respect they are but making use of a legitimate source of humor, as there is often something inherently funny about a fabricated word. Since the appearance, twenty-eight years ago, of the first comic strip, that of 'A. Mutt' drawn by Bud Fisher and published in the San Francisco Chronicle, the popularity of the comics has steadily increased. The 'Funnies' have long since become an institution of American life. They are read by all classes from garbage collectors to clergymen and college professors, but they probably draw the largest number of devotees from people of limited education and from children. The following specimens of the language of newspaper syndicated comic cartoons were collected during an examination of one hundred twenty-two series., They show one of the 'musical comedy' influences on American English.